The sound of the Great War at the Historial Museum

Apollinaire, La Mandoline, l'œillet et le bambou

We are already (almost)
accustomed to notice and recommend interesting exhibitions organized by the
museum Historial de la Grande Guerre, and yet we are always pleasantly
surprised at them. This time the title drew our attention: Hearing the War -
Sounds, Musics and Silence in 14-18; because the hearing is – with the
sense of smell – very hard to recreate and because the subtitle gathers the
wide range of experience, up to the stillness. Running from March to mid
November 2014, this special exhibition of the Historial Museum enables the
visitor to discover the unprecedented sound transformations which occurred
during the WWI and to enter into a new “sound universe”, making use of all
sorts of testimonies (objects, sounds, images, texts).

Let’s start with a given. It
is impossible for us to hear once again the exact sound of the Great War, even
if in the Historial Museum we can listen to the only survived (and now
restored) original recording of those years: the testimony of a sound
spectrogram which recorded the moment the battle ceased on Armistice Day and
the following silence – and especially this latter is touching. Nevertheless
the exhibition succeeds in its intent by developing two themes. It firstly
explores the sound of war, including the roar of artillery, the machine guns
and the clashes of combat or the noises of the rear guard, the attack and
defense sounds, but also the music made during the war, improvised by the
soldiers and accompanied by self-made instruments. Secondly the attention is
focused on musicians and on their way to approach, describe, elaborate or
remember the war. Through recordings and music scores, visitors discover not
only military marches, national or victory anthems, funeral or popular songs (including
the cinematographic tradition or jazz), but also the works of the leading
composers, such as Debussy, Saint-Saëns, Stravinski and many others.

All this was made possible by
an innovative staging concept – which recalls a music score with objects and
documents presented like musical notes –, by appropriate listening devices
(headphones, sound showers and listening chairs) and by the innovative sound
wall, designed by Luc Martinez, in the small exhibition hall.

After a first overview of the
aim of the exhibition in the entrance lobby (and have a look at the original
manuscript of Apollinaire’s poem Les obus miaulent en boche too!),
different aspects of the topic are addressed. The exhibition starts with the
military music of the troops marching and with their instruments, with the
songs of the rear guard and the front line, the soldier’ instrument made in the
trenches with raw material and the industrial ones. It shows then photos and
originals of renowned war composers; also funeral music as national culture of
mourning is displayed with scores, posters and images. A section is devoted to
the concerts which took place with charitable and patriotic purposes in the
rear guard, other sections to concerts on the front line and the music in the
camps and in the occupied territories. Also the impact of the new sound
universe of the new Jazz music is illustrated. Moreover the exhibition
introduces the visitors into the themes of acoustic wound and excessive noise
(in the section entitled “the amputated ear”), as well as the silence of the
Great War as symbol of mourning. In the end a section discusses the musical
creation connected – since the end of the conflict – to the memory of the Great
War.

In short, don’t miss the
exhibition Hearing the War - Sounds, Musics and Silence in 14-18 because
it guarantees a unique experience into the sound universe of the World War One.

ACROSS THE RIVER

Dear Visitor,

welcome to World War I Bridges, the Italy-based radar of First World War legacy and initiatives in the pipeline for the Centenary. Our interests are in the "units" here below and military equipment is not on the top of our minds. You can surf this site also starting from these "units".

Why Bridges? The armies used to explode the bridges in war operations. We now try to build new bridges during the WWI Centenary from Maserada sul Piave, a small Italian village along the Piave River.

Terms and conditions

All content provided on this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site. The owner will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information nor for the availability of this information. The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information. These terms and conditions of use are subject to change at anytime and without notice.As for our suggested itineraries, though every possible effort to provide accurate information on this site, you are solely responsible for interpreting and using this information to organize your trip and excursion and to evaluate all potential hazards according to your own capacities and risks inherent to the different natural environments.

World War I in Maserada sul Piave

Maserada sul Piave is a small town in the North-East of Italy (Venice area), located in the middle course of the river Piave. After the notorious rout of Caporetto (October 1917), the river Piave became the Italian extreme defensive front. This location and the river Piave are particularly interesting in the scenario of the three main battles of the last year of the Great War: the First Piave Battle (November 1917), the Battle of the Solstice (known as Battle of Middle June 1918) and the final Battle of Vittorio Veneto, that led to the Armistice between Italy and Central Powers. In this locations, the British and the Italian armies faced together the Austro-Hungarians. The British Army was stationed here and that's why our village is an example of a location shared by two national armies cooperating in war operations. The museum located in the village is aiming to become a reference point in Italy for the history of a foreign contingent, namely what we know as the British Campaign in Italy 1917-1918. Since 2008 it has been building local and international partnerships in order also to create events and organize battlefield tours in this area.

Can you build a WWI Bridge with us?

If you're a Great War enthusiast; if you think of having something interesting to point out; if you think that the memory of the Great War should grow around a network of people constantly sharing views on this; if you think that war was not and is not only a matter of weapons; if you stop a second when you read the words "First" and "World"; if you sometimes think that the Great War centenary is getting closer; if you quiver every time you watch Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory; if you strongly believe that the real challange is to find new strategies to tell the story of this war to the digital natives. Briefly, if you discover yourself twanging like a chord every time you get close to this topic and if you wish to throw new bridges around First World War knowledge, we would be more than happy to listen to your suggestions, comments and opinions.

Please take a look also to the web site of the friends of the Maserada World War I Museum and write your emails to this address. You may also follow us on Twitter.Thank you for connecting though WWI Bridges!